After returning to Montreal for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, Jacques Lemaire was back in New Jersey at 9 p.m. Saturday night.

There is a lot of work to be done with this underachieving Devils team which he inherited and Lemaire began today by holding a more involved morning skate than usual.

Lemaire said he feels the Devils were overconfident when they started the season but that confidence has been shattered by the team's poor play.

"That's exactly what I thought. Maybe a little overconfident at the start of the season," he said. "Because you look at the team, the roster, and this is a good team.

"As coaches, we don't really know how the players think. But if I had to guess, that's exactly what I would think."

None of the players believed they could be this bad.

"Never," Lemaire said. "Not with this team."

Now he must build up the confidence that has been lost.

"It's nice to be able to work them a little bit," Lemaire said. "I think this is what we need-- practices. We need this so they really understand what we're trying to achieve and what we want. How the game should be played. Because probably with the lack of confidence we deviate from how we should play.

"You lose confidence and then you don't work as hard. You don't back check as hard. You don't stop in your zone. You don't do the little things you should do and will do when things are going well."

Lemaire said the Devils are unfocused.

"Right now their minds are somewhere else," he explained. "Defeat, mistakes, not playing well. You have to build it up so we get stronger mentally and play the game for 60 minutes being positive.

"Confidence you have at the start but you lose it. The coach can try to get them confidence and play them in certain situations where you feel they can have success, but they have to work at it. The players have to do it."

It was back to basics as Lemaire ran his first morning skate since replacing John MacLean as head coach.

Although the Devils have a scheduled 7 p.m. game against the Toronto Maple Leafs, Lemaire tried to raise the level of the morning skate to more of a practice session.

"There was a little more interface for a pregame skate than normal," captain Jamie Langenbrunner said. "I think all of us know what kind of practice he runs, a lot of game situations that are going to allow you to get right into a game feel. Especially right after a couple of days off.

"Two days off, practice in the morning and go play. You run this practice more like a normal practice than you would a normal pregame skate. It's more the situation than the coach."

Defense is a primary concern. The Devils have allowed 48 more goals this season than they've scored.

"Obviously it's been a big problem of ours getting scored on, especially five-on-five. We need to be better in our end. Playing defensive hockey is not on the defense, it's on all five guys on the ice. It's working together.

"The whole thing is getting back to work. When you've slipped like we have and the way we've played and the results we expect to get, you have to go back to the basics. You have to clear your mind to what's gone wrong and the negative things and figure out what you can control."

Lemaire said his job isn't much different taking over mid-season than it has been starting in training camp in years past.

"It's not a lot different than going to another team and starting with another club the first day," he said. "Not when the team is like this right now. Because you have to start all over again because of the confidence. You look at how the guys play and you can tell.

"They come back (to the bench) and their heads are down. They go in the corner not to get the puck. Or they feel they won't get it."

Was this an odd time to make a coaching change, without a chance for a full practice?

"They have a new voice," Lemaire said. "They don't have the practices but they've got a new voice. That has to help. You're coming in and you have to be positive. I have to be positive because I haven't been with them, even though I've watched.

"So it's easier for me than Johnny MacLean to be positive at this point after they lose so many games. I'm going to get mad, too. I would. Maybe it's coming soon."

This is the reason GM Lou Lamoriello made the coaching chance. The players needed a fresh start, with a new voice.

Right now Lemaire must remain positive with his players. As the team struggled in recents weeks, MacLean saw little about which to remain confident. There was little he could say that was positive and his body language showed his frustration.

Lemaire was asked if the Devils' early-season overconfidence was like the season after a team wins the Stanley Cup.

"What happens after a Cup win is going to happen with a lot of teams," he said. "If you have a real good season, even if you don't win the Cup but get to the finals and your team is as strong as the other talent-wise, now the players feel they have it made.

"Sometimes they don't understand that because they work as a team, there are so many little things that help a team. Everybody chips in. That's why you win. But they feel, 'I'm a good player now. I don't have to work that much.' Detroit is an example. They won the Cup and the following year they got beat in the first round."

Lemaire said this Devils team should have been better than the one he left in April when he retired.

"The roster at the start of this season, I was positive it was a better team this year. Positive. Right now it's hard to say because they've never played at their best and their top player (Zach Parise) is not playing. So it's hard to say how good this team is."

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Martin Brodeur will start in goal for the Devils against the Maple Leafs.

Despite a major snowstorm that is already underway in Newark, there is no talk of postponing the game.

Defenseman Mark Fraser will miss his 31st game since breaking his hand during a fight Oct. 13 in Buffalo.

"I'm ready to go whenever they give me the green light," Fraser said. "It's been over 10 weeks. I'm ready to get back."